The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) provides a wide range of services from food surveillance and control to the planning and delivery of environmental hygiene services and public education on food safety and environmental cleanliness messages.
With an establishment of some 11,000, the Department delivers its services through the Centre for Food Safety, the Environmental Hygiene Branch and the Administration and Development Branch.
FEHD Organisation Chart
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January | |
| 1 January | The scope of the dengue vector surveillance programme in the community is widened to cover six more areas, adding up to a total of 44 areas under surveillance. |
| 3 January to 4 March | The first phase of the Anti-rodent Campaign 2011 is launched, targeting markets, market buildings, hawker bazaars, typhoon shelters, food premises, rear lanes close to food premises and other problematic spots identified in the territory. |
| 10 January to 9 March | The Centre for Food Safety implemented "hold and test" measure for eggs, poultry, pork and pork products from Germany in response to the incident of German food contamination with dioxins. |
| 21 January | A revamped Internet Memorial Service (IMS) with enhanced features and functions is launched. |
| 22 January | The Centre for Food Safety sets up an exhibition booth in 2011 Nutrition & Health Symposium organised by the Centre for Nutritional Studies, School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to promote nutrition labelling. |
| 28 January to 3 February | A total of 14 Lunar New Year Fairs are held in 12 districts. |
| February | |
| 1 February | A new initiative allowing outgoing tenants of public markets to surrender in-situ serviceable stall fixtures and installations for reuse by incoming tenants is rolled out. |
| 3 to 17 February | Lunar New Year Fairs are held at Che Kung Temple, Sha Tin and Lam Tsuen Fong Ma Po, Tai Po. |
| 28 February to 25 March | The first phase of the Anti-mosquito Campaign 2011 is launched to arouse public awareness and to encourage community participation in mosquito control and prevention. |
| March | |
| 12 March | The Centre for Food Safety strengthens testing of radiation level of food imported from Japan in response to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant incident, which has led to release of radioactive substances into the environment and affected food produced in a number of prefectures in Japan. |
| 15 March | The Centre for Food Safety and the Consumer Council release results of a joint study on microbiological quality of non-hot served sweet food in Hong Kong. |
| 16 March | The Department starts to accept nomination of the same person as the Hygiene Manager or Hygiene Supervisor for individual licences of those food premises which are under the same licensee and housed in the same supermarket or food court. The measure can help reduce the business compliance cost. |
| 23 March | The Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene makes an order under Section 78B of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance to prohibit the import and supply of certain food products from five prefectures (Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba) in Japan after three vegetable samples are found to contain Iodine-131 exceeding the standard laid down by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in the Guideline Levels for Radionuclides in Foods Contaminated following a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency. The order takes effect from 24 March. |
| April | |
| 1 April | The Ovitrap Rapid Alert System is introduced, targeting management offices of residential premises, social welfare facilities and schools located within the 44 areas under surveillance. |
| 1 April | Kwong Choi Market in Tuen Mun is decommissioned. |
| 15 April | The Department is awarded the Best Public Service Application (Public Services Web Site) Silver Award for the IMS in the Hong Kong Information and Communication Technology Awards 2011. |
| 26 April to 30 June | The second phase of the Anit-mosquito Campaign is launched, focusing on the importance of eliminating mosquito breeding places during the rainy season. |
| May | |
| 19 May | The Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene speaks at the opening ceremony of the Asia Funeral Expo 2011 to share experience with funeral experts and professionals from around the world. |
| 24 May | The Centre for Food Safety starts targeted surveillance of high risk food for plasticisers in response to the incident of food adulteration with plasticisers in Taiwan. |
| 31 May to 22 June | Six orders are made by the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene to prohibit the import and supply of plasticisers-tainted products that may pose public health risks. |
| June | |
| 1 and 2 June | The Centre for Food Safety hosted the Regional Symposium: "From Food Incidents to Crisis Management" to commemorate the fifth anniversary of its establishment and the designation of CFS as the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Risk Analysis of Chemicals in Food. |
| 27 June | A fast-track application process is introduced for traders who intend to conduct live broadcast activities at licensed cinemas. The time required for processing and approving applications which do not involve any structural or layout change to the premises is shortened from 20 to eight working days. |
| July | |
| 4 to 16 July | A delegation from the Centre for Food Safety conducts audit inspections on cattle, pig and turkey farms and slaughtering and processing plants in Germany and Sweden. |
| 6 to 22 July | An online questionnaire survey is conducted to gauge the opinions of IMS users with a view to improving service. |
| 8 July | Food Safety Day 2011 cum "Live it, Use it" Nutrition Labelling Promotion Award Scheme Award Presentation Ceremony with the theme "Make Better Choices, Use Nutrition Labels" is staged at Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong. |
| 13 July | The Centre for Food Safety releases results of a study on dietary iodine intake in Hong Kong adults. |
| 26 July | The Centre for Food Safety invites food traders to sign up to the Food Safety Charter 2011/12. |
| August | |
| 1 August | The Food Safety Ordinance (Chapter 612) which strengthens food safety control to protect public health commences. It introduces a food tracing mechanism to help the Government trace the source of the food more effectively and take prompt action when dealing with food incidents. The food tracing mechanism includes a registration scheme for food importers and food distributors, and a record-keeping requirement relating to the movements of food. |
| 1 August to 30 September | The second phase of the Anti-rodent Campaign is launched to sustain and consolidate the work carried out during the first phase and to strengthen rodent control in targeted areas. |
| 15 August to 7 October | The third phase of the Anit-mosquito Campaign is launched to highlight the risk of dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis and to sustain community effort in controlling the vectors. |
| September | |
| 12 September | The Cemeteries and Crematoria Section is awarded the Specialised Service Team Award - Special Citation (Innovation) in the Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme 2011. |
| 25 September | The mobile version of IMS (m.memorial.gov.hk) is launched to enable members of the public to pay tribute to the deceased via mobile phones. |
| 28 September | The Centre for Food Safety releases results of a study on microbiological quality of non-prepackaged beverages mixed or topped with solid ingredients. |
| October | |
| 3 October | The Centre for Food Safety subsumes the testing of plasticisers in food within its routine food surveillance programme. |
| 13 October | Barcode Tracking Systems, namely Barcode Coffin Verification System at Diamond Hill Crematorium and Radio-frequency Identification System at Kwai Chung Crematorium, are commissioned for use to monitor movement of ash bags in the venues. |
| 13 and 14 October | A delegation from the Centre for Food Safety attends 2011 Guangdong, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Macao Meeting on Health, Animal and Plant Quarantine and Food Safety Control at Qingyuan, Guangdong. |
| 23 October | A mobile application, "Nutrition Calculator" (NuCal), is launched to help people make better food choices by using nutrition information on prepackaged food any time, anywhere via mobile phones. |
| November | |
| 4 and 15 November | Smokeless joss paper burners are installed at Fu Shan Crematorium and Kwai Chung Crematorium to reduce nuisance generated from burning of paper offerings. |
| 30 November | A No. 4 alarm fire broke out at Fa Yuen Street in Mong Kok involving the hawker stalls there, which caused a considerable number of casualties. District hawker control teams had immediately strengthened management and enforcement actions in all fixed pitch hawker areas to reduce fire risk to nearby residents, including launching a territory-wide patrol with officers from the Fire Services Department. |
| December | |
| 12 and 13 December | Experts from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Denmark and the Mainland speak at the Veterinary Public Health Workshop organised by the Centre for Food Safety. |
| 13 December | The Centre for Food Safety announces results of the first report under the First Hong Kong Total Diet Study on Dioxins and Dioxin-like Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). |
| 13 December to 31 March 2012 | To enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement work against repeated violations of hawkers, a consultation is conducted with relevant stakeholders on the proposal to introduce a mechanism for cancellation of hawker licences. |
| 15 December | The Centre for Food Safety and the Consumer Council announce results of a joint study on microbiological quality of higher risk buns and sandwiches. |
| 20 December | Chicken carcass found in Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market was tested positive for H5N1 and as a result of which, a series of control measures including immediate suspension of importation of live poultry and sale of live poultry at retail level as from 21 December 2011 were imposed. The importation of live poultry from the Mainland was resumed on 12 January 2012. |
| 28 December to 24 February 2012 | The first phase of the Anti-rodent Campaign 2012 is launched, targeting markets, market buildings, hawker bazaars, typhoon shelters, food premises, rear lanes close to food premises and other problematic spots identified in the territory. |
| 29 and 30 December | The Centre for Food Safety sets up an exhibition booth at the 46th Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo to promote nutrition labelling and the Food Safety Ordinance. |